Follow the author of this article

Follow the topics within this article

Theresa May hit back last night at claims that David Cameron believed she was "lily-livered" on migration, by revealing that she wrote to him twice in the run up to the EU referendum calling for stronger border controls.

Responding to the claims contained in the book All Out War, by Tim Shipman, political editor of The Sunday Times, sources yesterday took the extraordinary step of revealing that in November 2014 and May last year, Mrs May, the then home secretary, wrote to Mr Cameron urging him to put stronger restrictions on free movement at the heart of any EU deal.

A new knight of the realm should remember what knights were famous for in the past - chivalry, decency and humility and bravery. Not one of these is now applicable in any shape or formIain Duncan Smith

It came after it was alleged that Mrs May told him to drop plans for an "emergency brake" on EU migrants because it would be opposed by Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor.

Downing Street responded by saying that on November 21 2014, she called for a "return to the original principle of freedom of movement" where EU citizens should only be able to come to work in the UK if they have a firm job offer.

In the second intervention, on May 21 2015, they claimed she highlighted the importance of securing "real reform" of free movement, specifically arguing that an emergency brake would be "crucial" in helping Britain to cut the number of EU migrants.

In the end Mr Cameron did a deal with Brussels to cut the benefits paid to new arrivals, which was rejected by voters during the EU referendum.

Mrs May's allies yesterday also accused Mr Cameron's former senior aide of trying to "undermine the new Government" after claiming that she was an "enemy agent" for Brexit.

Sir Craig Oliver, former director of communications for David Cameron, arrives in Downing StreetCredit:
Carl Court/Getty

Sir Craig Oliver, who was Mr Cameron's director of communications, said in his own book that Mrs May refused to assist the then prime minister's campaign to keep Britain in the EU.

Mrs May eventually backed Mr Cameron's Remain side, but made only one notable intervention during the almost six-month campaign.

This led to Downing Street nicknaming her "submarine May" because of her habit of disappearing when Mr Cameron asked for help, it is alleged.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, accused Sir Craig of trying to "rewrite history" and said he should "get behind Theresa May, instead of carping".

He said: "Theresa May was nicknamed 'submarine May', according to Sir Craig Oliver. A dose of humility would not go amiss. A new knight of the realm should remember what knights were famous for in the past - chivalry, decency and humility and bravery. Not one of these is now applicable in any shape or form.

"The present Prime Minister needs our support. The referendum vote has been and gone. You cannot rewrite history. They should learn that."

Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the Conservative Party chairman, also denied the claims.

He said: "This is a book that has been written after the event. You have got to have certain spicy things in a book to sell it. I don't blame Craig for doing that. At the time, Theresa was very much part of the Remain campaign."

Another ally of Mrs May suggested that the comments had been intended to "destabilise" the new Government.

Sir Craig said: "Iain appears to have got the wrong end of the stick. I have not made the specific allegations he claims. The book is a sincere and honest attempt to explain what went wrong, and I take full responsibility for the mistakes made by the campaign."

Sir Craig said that Mrs May failed to support Mr Cameron on 13 separate occasions before she did reluctantly "come off the fence" for Remain, but only after her then leader gave her a dressing down via telephone.

Sir Craig also describes Boris Johnson's "flip-flopping" over the weekend in which he finally came out and put himself at the head of the Leave campaign.

He said that the day before the announcement, the former London mayor sent a text to Mr Cameron warning him that he would be campaigning for Leave, only to send a second message suggesting he could back Remain. The following day Mr Cameron apparently received a final text from Mr Johnson saying he would be backing Leave, just nine minutes before he publicly announced his intentions in a chaotic press conference.